Rebels reject Syrian opposition

NEW FIGHT:：The new National Coalition bloc aims to present a united front, but the main rebel groups have rejected it as a ‘conspiratorial project’

AFP, BEIRUT

Wed, Nov 21, 2012 - Page 7

The main Islamist rebel groups in Aleppo, a key front line in Syria’s civil war, on Monday rejected the newly formed opposition bloc, saying they want an Islamic state, as clashes raged countrywide.

“We, the fighting squads of Aleppo city and province, unanimously reject the conspiratorial project called the National Coalition and announce our consensus to establish an Islamic state” in Syria, a spokesman announced in an Internet video.

“We reject any external coalitions or councils imposed on us at home from any party whatsoever,” he said.

The unidentified speaker sat at the head of a long table with at least 30 other men and a black Islamist flag on the wall.

He listed 14 armed groups as signatories to the statement, including the al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham and Liwa al-Tawhid.

However, the Ahrar al-Sham group rejected the proclamation on its official Web site, saying that its leadership did not endorse the statement.

The al-Nusra Front, a formidable fighting force, has claimed the majority of suicide bombings in Syria’s deadly 20-month-old conflict.

Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, the head of the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the embattled northern city of Aleppo, said the statement did not represent the opinion of all rebel groups in the province.

“These groups represent a number of military factions on the ground and reflect their position, but not all military forces in Aleppo agree with this,” the defected former army colonel said by telephone.

“The military council has announced its support for the National Coalition and is collaborating with them,” Okaidi added.

The new National Coalition aims to present a united front to the international community and is lobbying for weapons supplies to help topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

On the ground, fighting flared along the Turkish border after rebels took control of the large army Base 46 in the northern province of Aleppo that had been besieged for weeks.

Six rebels were killed in clashes with Kurdish fighters and the head of the local Kurdish People’s Assembly was shot dead in the town of Ras al-Ain, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The clashes erupted after a Kurdish demonstration demanding that all rebels not from Ras al-Ain leave after they took the town last week.

The Kurdish fighters belonged to the People’s Defense Units, the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is linked to Turkey’s rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

“The rebels burned a flag of the [Kurdish] Democratic Union Party and the Kurds reacted by burning the FSA flag,” an activist told AFP.